Kos wrote an entry yesterday detailing how Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi was coming to Maryland this weekend to fundraise for and endorse incumbent Rep. Al Wynn in the Democratic Primary. Many Kos readers know about this exciting race and the fabulous progressive challenger Donna Edwards and have chipped in with donations. Others not so familiar with the race have asked what makes this race so special and why Kos is calling Al Wynn corrupt?
Here's my attempt at gathering up the facts to give a better picture as to why Al Wynn is no longer adequate representation for MD-04 and why one might view him as corrupt.
Al Wynn was elected to Congress in 1992. Prior to that he served in the Maryland House of Delegates and the MD Senate. Since he beat out two other Democrats in 1992 to easily win his Congressional Seat by a huge margin in the general election, Al Wynn has never been seriously challenged -- until relatively unknown Donna Edwards came within 3000 votes of him in September 2006. In fact Donna Edwards beat him soundly in Montgomery County which comprises of about 1/3 of the district. The other 2/3 resides in Prince George's County where both candidates live.
Parts of Montgomery County are new to being in Al Wynn's district as they were transferred from MD-08 in the 2002 redistricting which may have resulted in Rep. Connie Morella's (R) loss to Chris Van Hollen (D). The Germantown and Olney portions had been redder areas that held support for liberal Republican Connie Morella. Wynn's district as a whole holds a high percentage of governmental workers.
People within Wynn's district often cite a number of poor votes on Wynn's part for their dissatisfaction. These include his votes for the Terri Schiavo legislation, his support of the Bush/Cheney Energy Policy, his vote for the Bankruptcy Bill, his vote to repeal the Estate Tax, his lack of support for net neutrality, and his vote to gut the Endangered Species Act. [See the campaign's Halloween You Tube ad, Al Wynn's Scary Votes]
And of course his vote to support the Iraq War resolution.
While Al Wynn claims he was misled by the Bush Administration, Republican Connie Morella in the neighboring 8th district voted AGAINST the war resolution. All but 4 members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted AGAINST the resolution. But Al went along with it. Why was that?
Another thing that voters point to when they describe their dissatisfaction with Mr Wynn is his constituent services. Or more aptly, his lack of constituent services. I have personally heard of a number of instances where individuals had issues that they wrote to Mr.Wynn to seek assistance with and they received no answer. One even described how he then wrote to Chris Van Hollen after trying Wynn several times. Chris Van Hollen's office promptly replied and assisted the man, in spite of him not being in MD-08.
Nancy Pelosi speaks of needing Al Wynn's leadership in the next Congress. Yet for all of Al Wynn's 15 years, the only chairmanship he holds is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Waste. In addition to that he is a Member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality. That's it. Let's compare that with 5 year Congressman Chris Van Hollen who is heading up the DCCC.
Wikipedia:
In the 109th Congress, Van Hollen served on the following House committees:
* Committee on Education and the Workforce
* Committee on Government Reform
* Committee on the Judiciary
He was also the vice-chair of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, a co-chair of the Congressional Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force, and a vice-chair of the Democratic Task Force on Tax Policy and the Budget.
On December 12, 2006, the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee appointed Van Hollen to the House Committee on Ways and Means for the 110th Congress. Ways and Means has jurisdiction over all tax policy, Social Security, Medicare, and trade issues.
On December 19, 2006, Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi announced that Van Hollen would succeed Representative Rahm Emanuel as Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which supports Democratic Candidates for Congress all over the country.[10]
In the 110th Congress, Van Hollen was appointed a place on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which handles tax policy, as well as social programs including Social Security and Medicare. He has been a constant champion of higher income taxes during his political career.
Yeah, Wynn sure has a lot to show for being in Congress 15 years. People in the 8th district speak glowingly of Chris Van Hollen. Those in the 4th speak volumes of their distaste for Al Wynn. His sudden visibility this last year only has them more cognizant of his absence the previous 14 years.
Now as to the assertion that Mr. Wynn is corrupt, things get murkier. But I can describe instances that would lead one to believe that corruption is quite likely. Particularly instances of cronyism.
Al Wynn receives campaign money from the Telecoms, Energy Companies, and the Banking Industry for starters. Each of those industries have benefited from Al's votes that I described above. Al Wynn has also worked with Bob Ney (of Jack Abramoff fame) crafting legislation that would undercut campaign finance reform by allowing soft money donations. Basically Al Wynn has no qualms about having lobbyists on the floor of the Capitol Building. He has accepted trips abroad in the past from special interest groups.
Al Wynn is known to play in the political circles locally, acting as kingmaker in Prince George's County politics and lobbying for casinos in Maryland to the Maryland General Assembly. For a federal politician, he certainly is quite active in local and state politics.
The Congressman's employees have been known to intimidate and harass those that oppose him, including beating up a volunteer for the Edwards campaign. (And the "thug" that beat up the volunteer is STILL working in Wynn's Congressional Office!) Meanwhile they allowed a Michael Steele (R) supporter (handing out Steele lit) in a Wynn campaign fundraiser last year. That still amazes me to this day.
On his campaign literature last year, Al Wynn's campaign listed Montgomery County Councilwoman Marilyn Praisner and the Teamsters as endorsers when they had not endorsed Wynn. The Teamsters had endorsed Donna Edwards and ended up making phone calls in the days before the election to inform voters they had endorsed Ms. Edwards, not Mr. Wynn. I doubt this was a simple mistake. Wynn's campaign also failed to disclose all his campaign contributions by the deadline last time and instead filled out corrections that would only be seen after the election had ended.
And those are the things that are known. Generally politicians don't go around advertising any corruption they may be involved in. But Al Wynn's associations and the behavior of his Congressional and campaign staff certainly make one suspicious.
Now that I've made the case against Al Wynn, I'd like to make the case FOR Donna Edwards. But that will take another long diary that I hope to post tomorrow or perhaps next week.
For those who are in the DC area next week, be sure to attend the debate between Al Wynn and Donna Edwards at Blair HS on November 8th.
November 8th - Greater Silver Spring Democratic Club Debate
Where: Montgomery Blair High School, 51 University Blvd East, Silver Spring, MD 20901
Start time: 7:30pm.